Hamas announced Tuesday it had sentenced two Palestinians to death for their alleged collaboration with Israel. A third person was given the death penalty for drug trafficking.
The terror group's military tribunal ruled that "it is its duty to protect Palestinian society from the scourge of cooperation with the enemy."
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Hamas militants display their rocket arsenal during a parade in the Gaza Strip shortly after a ceasefire ended 11 days of deadly conflict with Israel
(Photo: AFP)
Another 11 people were sentenced to four years in prison to life imprisonment and hard labor.
Previously, Hamas announced in late October it had sentenced six Palestinian "informants" to death for collaborating with Israel.
Hamas takes a rigid approach to collaborators with Israel, which has with Egypt put the Gaza Strip under blockade since the Islamists took power in a bloody coup in 2007.
In 2018, a Hamas military court sentenced six people to death for espionage, including a woman.
The year before, three convicted in the assassination of a Hamas commander were hanged or shot by a firing squad in public.
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Hamas authorities prepare a gallows for an execution in the Gaza Strip, October 2, 2013
(Photo: AP)
Hamas said that collaborators who turn themselves in will face more lenient terms, and said that the "judgments issued have fulfilled all legal procedures."
Palestinian law requires approval from the Palestinian president for the death penalty, but Hamas in Gaza has carried out a number of executions without permission from Mahmoud Abbas.
Rights groups in Gaza have urged Hamas to reduce its use of the death penalty.
Earlier this month the Gaza-based Al Mezan Center for Human Rights called for a moratorium on the death penalty, saying it was "gravely concerned about the incessant issuance of death sentences by the military judiciary" in the enclave.